This makes sense, in a way. Zubie would be going back home (even though he had a few altercations with Russia over the years), and the KHL might be less pressure on him in case he does spend most of next season injured. The doctors and medical staff aren’t nearly as talented as they are in the NHL, so I hope that he doesn’t run into any serious medical problems because the staff there might not be knowledgeable enough to deal with it.

Even though Zubie spent most of the last two seasons injured, I can remember many excellent moments from earlier in his career before he started experiencing injury problems. I remember him and the old Darryl Sydor during the Cup days, and Zubie quarterbacking the power play with the likes of Modano, Hull, Arnott, and a very young Morrow. It will be weird for him to NOT be on the team. Although he spent most of the last two seasons off the ice, it was always somewhat comforting to know that he was still a part of the team.

When he came for the playoffs in 2008, he seemed to have a lot left to give if only he could stay healthy. Yes, there were the two wonderful presents he gave to Patrick Marleau while the Sharks were short-handed, but there was also the amazing spin-around pass that landed right on Modano’s stick and easily found its way into the net. That is my favorite Zubov moment of recent memory.

If this is true, we will miss you Zubie. Best of luck in Russia. I hope you wow everyone with your crazy Ivans.

9:38 am – I woke up a little later than planned this morning. I was actually so tired that I fell asleep during the postgame show last night and woke up at 2 am to some sort of weird infomercial playing on FSN. I’m sure the interviews were great last night, and I’m sad I missed them. So someone fill me in if you saw them!

So far there’s only been one trade today. Ottawa picked up Pascal Leclairefrom Columbus for Antoine Vermette. I don’t know much about Vermette, but Leclaire is a pretty good goalie. I believe he led the league last year in shutouts, but he lost the starting job in Columbus this year to another rookie goalie who’s leading the lead in shutouts (Mason). Leclaire had ankle surgery this year, and will be out for the rest of the season. Since Ottawa won’t be making the playoffs, this is definitely a move to improve next year.

Tradecentre says that Vermette is saying goodbye to his teammates in Ottawa right now. That’s one part I hate about the trade deadline – I feel so bad for all of these guys who have to pack everything up and move to a new city. On the upside though, Vermette should make the playoffs with Columbus this year.

Officially, Pronger has been taken off the trading list for this season. I bet it’s because his wife doesn’t want to move to a new city.

9:47 am: Tim Connolly has agreed to a 2-year, $9 mil contract. It’ll be a good deal for the Sabres if Connolly can manage to keep himself from getting strange and serious injuries for the next 2 seasons. *yawn* I feel bad that he has to live in Buffalo for another 2 years.

10:25 – Well I went to take a shower, but nothing happened in the 40 minutes I was gone. This is one of the most boring trade deadlines in history so far. Maybe the Stars and Lightning are diligently working on how to get Jeff Halpern back to the Stars.

OOH we have rumbles! TSN reports that Calgary and Phoenix are working on getting Olli Jokinen to go to Calgary. No news on who the Flames would give up for Jokinen. I don’t think Jokinen would be overly helpful since he’s never made the playoffs and has the reputation for being kind of a baby.

10:31 – TSN is interviewing Antoine Vermette on the phone. He says it’s a weird feeling to be traded and he doesn’t really want to leave the Sens locker room. This is the only team he’s played for, so I think the first trade makes it extra hard on the player. He seems happy to be going to a team that might make the playoffs for the first time in franchise history. Good luck in the West… it ain’t like the East out here, buddy.

10:39 Jordan Leopold headed to Calgary from Colorado for 2 prospects and a draft pick. Leopold is on the phone with TSN and sounds pretty excited to go back to Calgary. I guess the air is always better in 3rd place than it is in 15th.

Neither of them are getting traded, but I just felt like adding a happy picture

As most of you probably already know, the trade deadline is tomorrow. I’m not expecting the Stars to do nearly as much as they did last year (I don’t think they can top last year in terms of nice guys leaving and big names coming in). Luckily, I don’t have class until 4:30 tomorrow afternoon, so I’ll be covering the news for most of the day tomorrow.

I just want to ask Hulljack to NOT trade for a left-handed center. Thank you 🙂

I think I am pleasantly surprised about this trade. I really like Boo, and I wanted him to finish his career as a Star. That being said, I think his numerous injuries have finally gotten ahead of him and prevented him from really playing up to his talent level. I wish him the best of luck in Pittsburgh, but I feel that this will for sure be his last season now.

As for Sydor, I am more surprised than anything that he waived his no-trade clause to go back to Dallas. If you read the blog a few entries down, he left really unhappy with the Stars as an organization. I hope that Niskanen or Daley will see a lot less ice time with Syd coming back. Nisky will also lose his defense partner and most likely his number (Syd is also #5).

Overall, I think this trade is good for the Stars. Most people seem to think that the Stars got the bad end of this deal since Syd has been scratched for most of his games in Pittsburgh… and I think that just has to be some issues he had with Pittsburgh’s coach because he is not a healthy scratch type of player. He had been asking for a trade for a long time.

Boo, we will miss you. You’ll always hold a special place in mine and Sarah’s hearts because you read ALL of our signs and you seemed so happy when we told you we’d make one for you.

Welcome home, Syd! 🙂

From his interview today (courtesy of Heika’s blog):

“I didn’t want to leave,” Sydor said. “I have a lot of roots there, and we love Dallas. It is just a dream come true to be able to put that jersey back on. I think the reason why was a cap issue. That’s the way it is; it’s the way the system works. There are no hard feelings. I’m very excited to be back.”

Amy

Another note – Fistric is now listed on the active roster of Stars players… doesn’t make sense that we have 8 defensemen, but he hasn’t been officially recalled yet

*do do de dum* It’s time for the weekly ex-Stars update *do do de dum*

Niklas Hagman has been on fire in Toronto. He has 2 goals and 2 assists in the last two games (both against Carolina). Sadly they lost the first game and lost the second game in overtime. The goalies in Leafs Land aren’t performing that well, but their defense rarely performs in front of them either. Yes, Hagman still does his super cute/awesome goal expressions and he has the best smile of any Finn I’ve ever seen.

Jeff Halpern skated with the Lightning for the first time today, and is scheduled to come back sometime in mid to late December. He’s been skating on his own for a little over a month, but he joined the team at practice for the first time today. He says he hopes to begin skating full-contact in 3 weeks. It’ll be great for him to get back on the ice. Tampa could use the defensive and scoring help.

Jason Arnott and Teppo Numminen are the only two ex-Stars to be on the All-Star ballot for this season’s game in Montreal. I don’t see either of them making the starting lineup, but it’s nice to see them on the ballot. It’s also great to see Numminen well enough to be playing again.

Mike Smith, however, is NOT on the All-Star ballot, so he will be my write-in candidate for the East. He is still in the Top 5 for save percentage and goals against, and is single-handedly supporting a Tampa team that has a lot of [questionable] talent but isn’t producing much. I predicted that he will be the first (?) goalie to win the Vezina and not make the playoffs. Hopefully that won’t happen, he deserves to make the playoffs.

Darryl Sydor has asked the Penguins for a trade since he’s been a healthy scratch for most of the year he’s been in Pittsburgh. Why you’d sit Darryl Sydor, I have no idea… I guess they’re all too infatuated with Cindy to notice the real “Syd”

I think that’s it for the important update. Mittens has calmed down since the Wild lost to Dallas, and Jussi scored a goal against the Sabres last week.

Look for updates all day. I’ll be updating in the morning and Sarah will be taking over early afternoon.

1:30 am – After reading this very depressing article I’m going to bed. Just a little more than 12 hours until all is said and done. Hulljack – please don’t make this trade. I will hate both of you for a very very long time.

8:16 am – Phew, no news about the possible trade from overnight. I don’t think I’d let myself sleep again if it happened while I was blissfully sleeping away. Not much happened overnight. The signing of Mike Comrie definitely takes him off the market, but there weren’t many rumors about him so I don’t think this signing is disappointing anyone.

It amuses me that, if Hossa gets traded to the Habs, he’ll be playing against Atlanta tonight. I don’t think I’d be so keen on facing my former team (of about 5 hours ago).

10:12 am – Still no news about our Stars. There are rumors that Columbus is trying to beef up their offer for Richards… Good luck guys! Please offer more than what we’re offering. I’m not ready for our tree-like goalie to leave yet.

Latest news: Leafs trade Belak to Panthers for a 5th round pick in 2008. It’s really not overly exciting. The Leafs are out one enforcer, but that’s what they have Darcy Tucker for, right?

This can be the best and worst time of the year for hockey fans. Sometimes the trade deadline is great when you manage to get a guy who really completes your team without much in return. If you’re a fan of a team out of the playoffs, it’s a sad time to see the big names on your team leave to clear up cap space for next season. I’m not a fan of teams selling everyone before the season is over. Maybe I’m just sentimental that way (or maybe cruel), but I like to see teams stick it out until the end of the season.

And if you’re a Stars fan… well this year isn’t fun. I’d love to wake up tomorrow and hear that Norstrom and Daley have been traded to Atlanta for Marian Hossa, but I don’t see that one happening. I certainly don’t want to to see Smitty leave the team. He’s way too valuable as a backup for the Stars to get rid of him. We no longer have the plethora of goalies waiting in the wings to take the backup position. I guess that’s another thing to thank my favorite ex-GM for. He let all of those goalies go, and we got basically nothing for any of them. Plus, if Marty were to get hurt at the end of the regular season or the playoffs (please please please don’t happen), I think the team is confident Smitty could lead them in the playoffs. I don’t see Stephan or any other goalie we could get being able to do this.

The newest rumor on Heika’s blog is that Jussi will be included in the trade to Tampa along with Smitty. This can’t be true… we sing part of the national anthem just for him! Brett Hull is going to go wayy down on my list of liked hockey players if this actually happens.

I’ll be in class until 2 tomorrow, so I’ll miss out on all the last-minute deadline deals. I hope my profs don’t mind me checking my phone for the latest NHL updates on Heika’s blog and TSN every minute or so.

Other news: David Legwand, a member of the classiest (trashiest?) team in the NHL got charged for a DUI earlier this week and should appear in court soon.

Thanks to all for the views and comments today. Hopefully you’ll stick around 🙂